The UK’s hottest and driest spring on record has caused an increased risk to fish and wildlife as it has led to record levels of water pollution in rivers, according to the Angling Trust.
With just 14 per cent of the country’s rivers in good ecological health, the high temperatures have amplified nitrate and ammonia pollution, showing that global warming is placing “severe stress” on Britain’s waterways.
The Angling Trust said that river temperatures in England and Wales between March and June were the hottest since records began three years ago.
So far in 2025, the organisation have already recorded 87 fish kills, which refers to a spate of localised deaths, due to pollution, low oxygen and natural factors.
They have also confirmed 36 incidents of low flows, which reduces river levels and concentrates pollution, while fish rescues have already been needed on the River Teme at Stanage and River Redlake at Bucknall.
All four nations in the UK have recorded their warmest spring since records began in 1884, and has also been recorded as the sixth-driest since 1836 with only a small amount of rainfall in June.
The report by the group’s Water Quality Monitoring Network (WQMN) found high levels of nitrate pollution, with 53 per cent of samples containing above 5ppm, compared to only a minority of samples in previous years.
This is known to fuel the spread of algae, known as algal blooms, which can kill freshwater life.
Toxic ammonia levels also hit its highest levels in 2025, with 5.4 per cent of ammonia tests failing to meet good ecological standards, up from 2.2 per cent in 2023.
The organisation, which has seen 800 volunteers submit over 10,000 pollution monitoring samples, has said that this combination of record warmth and drought has caused treated sewage, urban discharge and farm runoff to concentrate in rivers.
“These results are a wake-up call to tackle the double impact of river pollution and climate change,” said Stuart Singleton-White, Head of Campaigns at the Angling Trust.
“We urgently need to see much tougher regulation resulting in immediate reductions in river pollution, goals for 2030 are too little too late.”
The Environment Agency told The Times: “We take all reports of environmental pollution seriously. We have expanded where we monitor and expanded the diversity of data we collect in recent years. Last year we collected over 99,000 water quality samples.”
It comes as Yorkshire Water announce the first hosepipe ban from Friday, with restrictions on watering the garden, cleaning cars and filling paddling pools as the company aims to conserve water.
Customers who ignore the hosepipe ban could face fines of up to £1,000.
Experts warn human-caused climate change is driving increasingly extreme weather such as hotter drier summers, and making heatwaves such as those seen recently, which can push up water use just as supplies are scarce, more intense and frequent.
A drought was declared by the Environment Agency across Yorkshire in June, while the North West of England entered drought status in May – though the region’s water company United Utilities said on Tuesday it had no plans to announce a similar hosepipe ban.
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